Chocolate Cake
by LunaStellaCat
Summary: A man doesn't spend his anniversary alone. Written for HSWW Challenges and Assignments. Any reviews or critiques would make my day.


Chocolate Cake.

Assignment 3: Mythology, Ares, Write a story set in wartime.

Beta: DobbyRocksSocks Thank you

Warnings: Character Death, Depression

Their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary started out like any other day. Lyall got up with his wife, made her breakfast and coffee, suggested she fake an illness, and got turned down. He did this for giggles because Hope preferred the expected line. She left for work, and he went back to bed because working with dead people drained him a lot these days. Fifty made him wistful, but seventy simply made him old.

Lyall stuck out like a sore thumb because he was the weirdo with the really shy, beautiful blonde woman for a wife. Why Hope Howell consented to marry him, he didn't know, especially since he proved a rather boring and predictable man, a creature of habit. She supported herself through school by working at a handful of insurance companies, yet Hope never let negative comments ruin anything, and she always saw the bright side with her infectious happiness.

She said she wanted no fuss, and he'd nodded, not listening to her. After setting a chocolate cake down to cool, Lyall took his time whipping buttercream frosting by hand as his daughter-in-law sat at the table. He enjoyed Nymphadora because she talked and talked, and all he had to do was fill in the appropriate pauses. Remus picked up a shift at a restaurant; he worked two dead end jobs at Muggle establishments.

"Straightedge, please." Lyall thanked Nymphadora for handing him the tool and spun it around the cake. He handed her the mixing bowl and the spatula.

"You're really good at this," she said, scraping the side of the bowl with the spatula.

"When I couldn't get enough cases from haunted houses or castles, I picked up shifts at this bakery called the the Corner Chocolate Shoppe." Lyall pointed, indicating the city nearby. "I worked as the dishwasher. They put me up front, but I'm not really good with people, people with a pulse, so the manager mercifully sent me into the kitchens."

"I bet Remus loved that," said Tonks, laughing when Lyall shrugged like this was obvious. He found a dark chocolate bar in the secret spot and decorated the cake with these curls, letting them fall wherever they may. "He doesn't even live here anymore. And you keep a secret stash?"

"This is expensive." Lyall handed her a piece of chocolate and placed his finger to his lips. Nymphadora wasn't able to work at the moment given the fact there was no magical government to speak of. Lyall suspected why she favored the in-laws, and although he'd do nothing to push her away, he appreciated honesty. He checked on the lasagna in the oven as a salad tossed itself on the counter. "Your mother's still not coming around?"

"No." Tonks frowned, looking around the small but pristine kitchen. "Your bread is burning."

"Damn it." Grabbing an oven glove after he wrenched open the door and set the crispy bread next to main dish on the range, Lyall ran his hand under the faucet and applied burn paste with his other hand.. Tonks got up to help him, knocking over the candlesticks in the process and managing to trip over her feet at the same time. To be fair, she couldn't see her feet, but Lyall had no excuse. "We are like the blind leading the blind."

"Are you okay?" Tonks took his hand and examined it. Thanks to some concoction made by the Weasley twins, the burn sealed itself and calloused in no time.

"Yeah. I don't recommend you do that." Lyall waved her towards her spot. "Apparently you run a risk of burning down a house, and I signed a mortgage fifteen years ago. The bank owns me."

The door opened, and Hope walked in, kicking off her heels and dropping her keys in her handbag. She drove the same car they bought years ago. Hope spilled her plastic grocery bags over the counter, saying hello to Lyall and dashing into the office to deposit her things. She came back, her blonde hair curled,, and slipping on another pair of shoes.

"Jakob's parents are in London." She stopped, stealing a kiss from her husband.

"Oh, the Polish people." Lyall kissed her again, amused when she rolled her eyes.

Hope nursed a soft spot for Jakob Nowak even though he technically wasn't her student; he studied medicine and aspired to be a neurologist or a neurosurgeon. Lyall struggled with the differences between these two, though he understood Jakob studied the brain. Jakob lived with them because it lightened the house payment and he enjoyed an almost non-existent rent medical students simply couldn't find.

Hope tasted the frosting with her finger. "What happened to not blowing this thing out of proportion?"

"You got wine." Lyall cast a Chilling Charm on a pricey bottle of Pinot Noir. He unpacked the bags in a flourish, taking care of it with simple spellwork as the groceries put themselves away. "Chocolate covered strawberries? It's just another day because we're not …"

"Okay, this little thing where you recite my lines like a bird? And I cannot think of the bird because I'm too tired," and Hope, scraping the burnt bits off the baking sheet with a wooden spatula. "It's exhausting. And I've spent my day with teenagers who call themselves adults."

Hope loved her job, but she refused to stand in as anyone's momma at the end of the day. And she put her foot down with this no nonsense, no sappy story stuff, which is why the university raved about her and weighed the possibility of offering a fledgling lecturer the promise of tenure. Hope breathed new life into the arts program.

"Come here." Hope beckoned to him with a finger and kicked off her shoes again when they entered the corridor and Lyall lifted her into his arms, lost in her kisses. With no idea what brought this on, he decided to enjoy the ride. They rediscovered each other after Remus left. They hadn't enjoyed much time to themselves because Remus arrived a year after they tied the knot and this werewolf thing consumed their lives. "When's dinner?"

"Whenever. Half an hour?" Lyall grinned when she nodded, kissing him again as they went into the bedroom. He laid her on the bed and stripped off her stockings, laughing when she made herself at home. She felt wonderful. making all the right moves. Lyall turned his head, listening to Nymphadora come upstairs. "She'll hear us."

Hope shook her head, whispering softly in his ear as they made love.

"I love you." He kissed her, out of energy in no time. Where he aged, time scarcely touched his bride. Lyall considered himself a lucky man. They held each other in bed for the longest time. He sighed as she hid underneath the covers and did as she pleased. Lyall groaned, his eyes locked on Nymphadora as a rush of pleasure took him. "You're still really good at this. It's exceptional. "I'm a lucky man."

"Lyall," said Tonks, placing her hands on the doorframe. "Are you all right?"

She left, her large blue eyes widened in surprise. Lyall smiled when Hope lay her head on his chest, and when he touched her fair hair, it stuck to his fingers. She reminded him of when Remus was a small boy, no older than three and they debated adding another brother or sister. Lyall struggled with meeting people because he was socially awkward and struggled to find a place in this world as a renowned researcher.

Voices carried upstairs. Lyall respected Remus for taking a backseat with the Order of the Phoenix to do whatever he needed to keep his head above water. Personally, Lyall thought adding a child to the mix was a stupid decision. And the pained expression he saw on Remus's face confirmed this. Even though Remus accepted the truth like a man swallowing a bitter pill, he still swung like a pendulum between blissful happiness and crippling fear.

Lyall stayed out of the war. He didn't get involved last time, although he prayed each night children stayed out of the clutches of people like Fenrir Greyback. Lyall went to Mass three times a week, rain or shine, and he always enjoyed through empty house in the early morning hours.

"I told Remus." Lyall sighed when Hope said nothing. He stroked her face, marveling at how she overcame her illness, especially the ones she got from the accident. Lyall laid back, resting his head on the pillows. "He stopped talking to me when I told him about Greyback, but I think maybe this child isn't a mistake? Or it's a happy mistake?"

Tonks's voice carried through the silence. "He's lonely."

"He's all right," said a weary, mellow voices. This was Remus. Lyall guessed he stopped by in between shifts to get some shut eye.

"No. I don't think you see it." Tonks sounded adamant, refusing to have whatever she needed to say dismissed.

"He misses her on days like today. He spends a lot of his time alone," said Remus.

"There is a difference between alone and lonely," said Tonks, "and I just want to point out poltergeists, and Boggarts, and whatever can't be friends."

Remus said nothing. Lyall got up, letting his wife sleep. He smiled at his son, pleased they were at least on speaking terms.

Tonks jerked her head towards the kitchen. "I think it's done doing it's thing."

"Coagulation," said Lyall and Remus together.

Lyall stepped away to use the restroom. When he returned in the kitchen, he glimpsed a university publication dated seventeen years prior on the table. Tonks handled it with the softest touch and upmost care, staring at a photograph of a young Jakob; Hope's stationary photograph, her face radiant as she smiled up at the camera, drew in Lyall's attention.

"Let's eat," said Remus hurriedly, lighting the candles with a wave of his wand and placing heaping helpings into plates. Lyall bowed his head in silent prayer, noticing as he did this, nobody else followed his lead. They waited politely. Remus cleared his throat and squeezed his father's hand under the table.

"You have a shift," said Lyall, pouring generous measures of wine into glasses.

"I'll pick up tomorrow," said Remus, smiling at his father as Lyall rubbed his finger against the scratched band. He sat there after they finished, stealing not so subtle looks at the dessert. Lyall asked him to clear up, which Remus did by magical means, and the dishes washed themselves in the background clinking like wind chimes. His face lit up. "May I have dessert?"

Lyall eyed him, ignoring Tonks when she nudged Remus. "You came for the food?"

"No, I came for the quality stimulating conversation," said Remus, pulling a scandalized face as he shrugged this off. "I totally came for the cake. Life is better with chocolate."


End file.
